Vanderbilt gives South Carolina a scare, but runs out of steam

Posted by Kevin McGuire on September 14, 2013, 10:42 PM EDT

AP

In the first half nothing could seem to go wrong for South Carolina, aside from a late interception returned to set up an easy score. The second half almost seemed as nothing could go right. After the Gamecocks marched 75 yards down field on ten plays and took a 35-10 lead out of halftime, South Carolina had to hang on for an SEC East victory against Vanderbilt. South Carolina dug deep and picked up a 35-25 victory.

Vanderbilt scored two touchdowns in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter to trim South Carolina’s lead down to ten points, 35-25. Both scoring drives for Vandy started in South Carolina territory and the Commodores took advantage. A ten-play drive from the South Carolina 49-yard line ended with Austyn Carta-Samuels punching one in from the goal line. He would strike again moments later on a 19-yard pass to running back Wesley Tate. Vanderbilt would soon find themselves right back on the goal line of South Carolina just a foot away from making it a three-point game, but Carta-Samuels threw a poor pass that was picked off in the end zone by Jimmy Legree. Legree was ruled down at the one-yard line after a video review to determine if he had left the end zone after the interception, but it would not matter. South Carolina ran 16 straight plays following an incomplete pass and a penalty to move the ball down field, running down the clock from 8:41 to play all the way down to having just 55 seconds to play. Vanderbilt took over on downs but with no timeouts to use there was nothing they could do to flip the outcome in their favor.

South Carolina entered this season as one of the favorites in the SEC East, and perhaps the SEC depending on who you asked. After three games, have we lowered our expectations for South Carolina? When they are on top of their game, as they were in the first half, they are pretty darn scary. Bu in the second half we saw some of the concerns that should be there when looking at South Carolina in the SEC picture. South carolina will get a bye week to review where they stand at this point.

As for Vanderbilt, an 0-2 start in SEC play is disappointing but not entirely unexpected. Losing at South Carolina seemed likely at the start of the year, but the Ole Miss loss in week one may have been a little surprising at the time. Vanderbilt still has games this season against Georgia, Texas A&M and Florida. At 1-2, thoughts of a bowl game are starting to get a little foggy already but there is still a path to a postseason for Vanderbilt. Next week Vanderbilt should even up their record with a road game at UMass.

Vandy proves you cannot take any team in the SEC for granted. Vandy came to play. They took advantage what the Gamecocks gave them. South Carolina put up a good defense in the first half, something that seems to be less evident in the SEC this season.

Both teams, and all teams from what I saw of the games, have some things to work on.